History Pub – Oregon’s Donation Land Claim Act of 1850: You Can’t Steal What You Can’t Measure Presented by Terry Baxter

Grand Lodge Theater
3505 Pacific Ave

Forest Grove, Oregon 97116

Wednesday February 12, 2025
Doors 6:00PM / Event 7:00PM

Imagine the government giving away hundreds of acres of land to individuals to establish homes, farms, and businesses. But only for white people. The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 to 1855 forcefully displaced Indigenous people from their native lands, excluded non-white settlers and disqualified single or widowed women from gaining property. The Donation Land Claim Act set into motion the rapid transformation of Oregon Territory. Multnomah County Archivist Terry Baxter discusses the process of systematic land measurement, different ideas of land “ownership,” the Cayuse War, and the lasting effects of the Donation Land Claim Act on Oregon today.  

Terry Baxter has been an archivist for 40 years and currently works with Multnomah County Archives and the Oregon Country Fair Archives. Terry is a former president of the Society of American Archivists and a founding member of the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums.